Oxtail Recipes - The best dishes, such as soups and stews, for slow cooking

So far, oxtail dishes may not be the most well-known with which you can cook beef. However, if you don't try such dishes yourself, you're missing out on truly wonderful opportunities to sample delicious soups and stews. Here are five delicious oxtail recipes for hearty dishes and main courses. Choose your preferred cooking method to make traditional and nutritious oxtail stews and soups at home.

Test delicious oxtail recipes

If you are having trouble finding oxtails in your area, you can go through thisVeal, beef loin, ribs or other soup bones. However, don't expect such an intense taste. As with any recipe, you can adapt the following to suit your own family's needs and tastes.

The oxtail consists of special and wonderful meat. It is literally the tail of the ox, meaning it is thick at one end and thin at the other. The tail is sold already cut into pieces. Additionally, you can get some big pieces of meat and some really small pieces of meat from it.

Delicious oxtail stew

The oxtail is full of cartilage and connective tissue of all kinds. This means that you need to cook it slowly over low heat. Luckily, this type of cooking melts away all the stringy bits and turns them into gelatin. This means you can use the broth to make a really rich and tasty sauce with it, while the meat itself turns out absolutely juicy.

Ingredients:

• 1 meaty oxtail, between 1.5 and 2 kilos
• ¼ cup canola oil (or other vegetable oil)
• 4 cups beef broth
• 2-3 medium onions (peeled and diced)
• fresh rosemary
• 3 garlic cloves (peeled and minced)
• 2-3 bay leaves
• 1 cup of red wine
• ¼ cup tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
• Kosher salt and black pepper
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 tablespoons flour

Preparation:

1. First, preheat your oven to 150°C. Dry the oxtails well with paper towels. This will help you get a nice brown color while you fry them.
2. Heat the oil in a heavy cast iron Dutch oven or brazier over high heat, then add the oxtails and fry thoroughly, turning with tongs. When a nice brown crust has formed on all sides, remove the oxtail from the pan and set it aside.
3. Add the onions and garlic to the pot and cook for about 5 minutes or until the onions are translucent.
4. Start by adding the wine and using a wooden spoon or heatproof spatula, loosen any aromatic bits from the bottom of the pan.
5. Now add the oxtails to the pot along with the stock, bay leaves, rosemary, peppercorns and tomato paste. Heat the stovetop until you bring the liquid to a boil, cover with a tight-fitting lid and place the pot in the oven.

After braising

1. Leave the oxtail in the oven for three hours. You don't need to touch the dish at all during this time, but you can use the time to prepare creamy polenta or mashed potatoes as a side dish.
2. After three hours, remove the pot from the oven and let the meat cool in the cooking liquid while you prepare the sauce.
3. Skim off two cups of braising liquid and pour it through a sieve. You should also skim off the fat on the surface.
4. Heat the butter in a separate pan, then slowly stir in the flour until a paste forms. Cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally, until the paste turns light brown in color.
5. Now gradually add the hot liquid to the roux. Simmer the sauce for about 15 minutes, strain through a fine-mesh sieve and season with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Serve the oxtail over polenta or mashed potatoes and a generous portion of sauce.

Rustic Oxtail Recipes

Plan this meal a day in advance so you can cook the oxtails and remove the fat before preparing the vegetables. Crusty bread is a welcome addition to soak up the rich gravy.

Ingredients:

• 1-1.5 kilos of beef
• Oxtails
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 50 g olive oil
• 1 cup of red wine
• 1-3/4 cups beef broth
• 1 cup tomato sauce
• Worcestershire sauce (1 tablespoon)
• dried oregano (1 teaspoon)
• dried basil (1 teaspoon)
• 1 bay leaf, broken in half
• 6 cloves
• Garlic cloves (large, halved)
• 4 medium red-skinned potatoes (cut into quarters)
• 4 medium carrots (cut into lengths)
• 200 g white mushrooms (halve if large)
• 1/2 sweet onion (cut into 6 pieces)
• 1 cup snow peas or green beans

Preparation:

1. Gather the ingredients together and preheat the oven to 150°C.
2. Season the oxtails generously with salt and pepper on both sides, then sprinkle the flour over them.
3. Heat a heavy Dutch oven or deep skillet over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, brush the bottom with a thin layer of olive oil.
4. Brown the oxtails on all sides and transfer to a platter. If necessary, do this in batches to allow the meat to become more tender. You want browned oxtails, not gray, steamed oxtails.
5. Add the wine to the hot skillet and cook for 2 minutes, scraping up any browned bits on the bottom.
6. Add the beef broth, tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, oregano, basil, bay leaf and garlic.
7. Stir well to combine the oxtails and seasonings and return them to the pan.
8. Distribute the liquid over the oxtails, cover and place in the preheated oven for 2 hours.
9. Then let the finished dish cool and place the oxtails in a container.
10. Pour the sauce into a separate container. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight to allow the gravy to set.
11. Skim fat from top of sauce. Return the sauce to the pot and heat it up.
12. Depending on how thick it is, you may want to add a little water to thin the liquid out a bit.
13. Then add the potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, sweet onions and red potatoes to the pot. Then cover the vegetables with the sauce.
14. Cover the pot again and cook until the potatoes are almost tender. Add the oxtails to the pot with the vegetables and the peas on top. Then cover and simmer until the oxtails are warm.
15. Serve oxtails with vegetables and gravy.

Oxtail soup with barley

These oxtail recipes feature vegetables and barley that enrich this hearty, beef-loaded soup. The two-step process begins primarily in the Dutch oven and ends on the stove to coax the delicious beef flavor from the oxtails. Feel free to use your favorite vegetables and give the soup a liberal dose of freshly ground black pepper for a little kick. This is a meal at its finest and probably the most flavorful vegetable beef soup you will ever taste.

Ingredients:

• about 1.5 kilos of beef and oxtails
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground pepper
• 2 tablespoons virgin olive oil
• 1 cup chopped tomatoes with juice
• Dried oregano (1 teaspoon)
• 1 large bay leaf (halved)
• 4 cups beef broth
• 1 cup of water
• 1/2 cup barley
• 4 carrots (peeled and roughly chopped)
• 2 large celery sticks (roughly chopped)
• 1 large onion (coarsely chopped)
• Sweet potato (1 large piece, diced)
• 1 cup frozen green beans or peas
• 1/2 cup frozen corn

Preparation:

1. First sprinkle oxtails generously with salt and pepper. Next, heat a large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, brush the base with olive oil. Briefly fry the oxtails on all sides.
2. Next, place the oxtails all at once into a large oval Dutch oven. Pour the tomatoes over it and sprinkle with the oregano. Tuck the bay leaf into the mixture to cover it. Cook on low heat for 8 to 10 hours or 5-6 hours on higher heat until the meat falls away from the bones.
3. Then let the oxtails cool enough to be able to process them by hand. Remove the meat from the bones and any excess fat. Place the meat in a container, seal it airtight and place it in the refrigerator. Pour the liquid into a separate container, close tightly and place in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours or overnight. (You can do this up to 2 days in advance)
4. If you are ready, theMake soup quickly, remove the layer of fat that has accumulated at the top of the container. (The liquid base is gelatinous and solid.) Place in a large stock pot with beef broth and water. Bring to the boil slowly, then add the barley. Let the barley cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Finally add carrots, celery, sweet onions and potatoes and cook until vegetables are soft. Then add green beans or peas and the corn. Cook another 5 minutes until the frozen vegetables are heated through. Add a generous amount of freshly ground black pepper and salt before serving.

Italian oxtail recipes á la Guazzetto

Guazzetto means “wine splashed” in Italian and this stew contains a good amount of red wine. Italian oxtail stew is traditionally served with pasta, although mashed potatoes, polenta, or even bread cubes are also suitable choices.

Ingredients:

• 100 g dried porcini mushrooms
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 500 g oxtails
• Salt and pepper
• 1/2 onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 carrot, finely chopped
• 1/3 cup red wine
• Canned tomatoes, diced
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• Anchovy paste, about 1 teaspoon
• 1 Lorbeerblatt
• 1 whole clove
• 2 fresh sprigs of rosemary
• 3 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 1 cup beef or chicken broth

Preparation:

1. First preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
2. Then bring 1/2 cup of water to a boil, remove from heat and add dried porcini mushrooms. Let sit for 15 minutes, remove mushrooms and reserve for later. Strain the water in which the mushrooms were soaked through a coffee filter and also store it.
3. Season oxtails generously with salt and pepper. Then heat the oil in a small casserole dish and then fry the oxtails on all sides over medium heat and set them aside.
4. Wrap the clove, rosemary, thyme and bay leaves in a small cheesecloth bag and tie with string.
5. Then reduce the heat to medium-low for 10 minutes. Season the onions and carrots with a generous pinch of salt. Increase the heat to medium, add the wine and degrease the pan. Add all remaining ingredients such as oxtails, mushrooms and mushroom liquid. Add just enough liquid to cover the oxtails.
6. Bring to a boil, immediately cover and place on the lowest rack in the oven. Cook for three hours, topping up with water or additional mushroom liquid if necessary.
7. Remove oxtails and shred meat. Place the pot on the stove and reduce the heat to about 1 cup over medium-high heat. Add the shredded meat and serve over pasta, polenta, or bread.